As the fallout from Microsoft's day of woe (Xbox One reveal) continues and they get roasted by the gaming community left and right nonstop, some of their apologists, who are no doubt shellshocked that their favorite console corporation is under such assault of negative opinion, are scrambling to find any defense they can for the bullshit anti-consumer tactics that are set to be launched on the Xbone TV switcher.
In their desperation they try to call out PC gamers and ask them such stupid questions as "Why is this a big deal? Isn't it the exact same DRM as Steam and PC games?" Thinking they've thrown a brilliant rhetorical jab at their opponents they fail to notice the only thing they've done is display a shocking level of ignorance about the vast world of difference between PC gaming and console gaming.
So, as a public service to the clueless, uninformed and the willfully ignorant who would pose such a moronic question, allow me now to spell out why lack of ownership rights has been accepted to a certain degree in the realm of PC gaming. I hope I can explain for even the most simple-minded of readers why restrictive DRM on services like Steam is not drawing the wrath of the gaming public like the proposed DRM of the Xbone is.
- On a PC I have complete control of all the hardware and software installed on my system. I can switch any component I want and run any program on my OS I want. On an Xbox I can only use overpriced Microsoft approved hardware and software. On Xbone the hard drive won't even be replaceable.
- On a PC I have free reign to modify my games any way I want to, with the exception of MMORPGs which are more of a service platform than a traditional game. I can even copy my game files for archiving or remove things like the Steam DRM with a little know-how and/or a guide. What are the chances any of this will be available to Xbone users?
- On a PC I can run older games dating back to the days of Doom and Wolfenstein alongside newer tech-intensive games like Metro: Last Light and The Witcher 2, and my library of games can be modified to be future-proof to play on new operating systems and hardware as they come out. Xbone can't even play 360 games and the game library will likely only have a playable lifespan equal to Microsoft's desire to run XBL servers for the console. 10 years from now your copy of Forza 5 might only be usable as a drink coaster once Microsoft pulls the plug on Xbone services.
- Steam is a FREE service that has FREE online play and the store often features amazing sales where major AAA games, many less than a year old, get price drops of 75-80%. For less than $15 you can pick up entire packs of games and entire series of popular franchises. Xbox Live almost never offers deals like these, and even with Steam's DRM in place the fact that they often drop prices of games to levels where they compete not with other games, but with everyday consumable items truly does go a long way to soften the blow of the loss of ownership of the software. If you pick up the first two Bioshock games for $5 are you likely to complain later that technically you really only bought the license to use the game code? Probably not.
- Competition improves PC services in a way that you don't see on consoles. Sure, there is some competitive fire between Playstation Network and Xbox Live, but for the most part they are closed monopolistic ecosystems on the platforms they inhabit and are not subject to the same pressures a service like Steam is. For the savvy PC gamer who doesn't like Steam they can often simply choose to go buy the game they want at Gog.com (DRM-free), or Amazon, or even for the masochistic, Origin. There's no shortage of competition in the PC gaming space, and it's that competition that forces companies like Valve or Good Old Games to be as consumer-oriented as possible.
- PC games are almost always the best versions of the games technically. While consoles age over their lifespan to the point where after a couple years many games are unable to run even at 30 frames per second in 1080p resolution, the constant evolution of PC hardware allows the same games to run at even higher resolutions, sometimes spread across multiple HD monitors, with more detail and a steady 60 frames per second on a system with even a moderately priced graphics card and CPU. There's just no way around it, the PC version of a game is typically THE definitive version.
Hopefully for those who use comparisons full of ignorance and logic failures in regards to PC gaming vs Microsoft console gaming this will clear things up a bit. Hopefully it will make them realize why their arguments are bad and why they should feel bad for making them. Maybe, just maybe, it could help them understand why they should re-evaluate where they should spend their money this coming holiday season in regards to gaming hardware.
Of course, the problem for some is that they'd have to get their heads and eager tongues away from Don Mattrick's asshole first in order to read this, wouldn't they?
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